One More Time
by BeautyofSyn
Summary: Because of an encounter with Marshall, Gumball realizes that he has no self confidence and the ambition to fulfill himself, and is afraid to show his real self. Over various encounters with Marshall, he begins to believe in himself, and begins to develop feelings for Marshall. Will Gumball be able to get over Fionna and be with someone who likes him for him?
1. Tears of Laughter, Tears of Sorrow

Fionna and cake were currently sitting around while Gumball was messing around with experiments trying to create the perfect frosting.

After a full day of doing almost nothing, Fionna decided she's had enough for one day and decided to leave the castle. "Well Gumball, this was soooo fun and soooo enlightening, but it's Cake's bedtime so we'll be off now."

"Bedtime?" interjected Cake. "…Ohhh right it is almost time for my cat nap."

"Really?" winced Gumball," Are you sure that you don't want to stay a bit longer? I'm about to have a breakthrough here." Fionna, now slightly annoyed, quickly gave the signal for Cake to start acting up a bit. "Sorry boo! I'm tired and I want to go home…now! I have to have my beauty sleep for tomorrow and if I don't get that, a whole rain of pain is gonna come down and they'll be nothin' to stop me!"

"Oh… okay. I'll see you later Fionna?"

"Maybe dude. I have a major backlog of dudgeons that I need to explore so I don't know when the next time I'll be free. See ya later dude." Fionna then scooped up cake and left Gumball alone in the room. Sighing that she is now gone, Gumball continued his experiment until the moon was set up high in the sky.

* * *

Soon starting to realize how late it was, he began to clean up his station. As Gumball was putting away the vials, he thought about Fionna and wished that she had stayed longer. He eventually got distracted washing his hands and blocked out everything around him.

But there, sitting on the ceiling, was Marshall. Apparently he was there almost the entire time Fionna and Cake were there, only invisible to stay unseen. Marshall just sat there thinking of what he should do to mess with Gumball. 'hmmm should I only just pop up from behind him, or should I take one of his experiments?... I know! Muahaha this'll be too good.' Marshall then hovered over to the sink where Gumball was. He angled his hands, cupped them, and stuck them in the faucet's running water aiming right at Gumball's face.

"AHHHHHH!" yelled gumball as he flew backward onto his back. "The sink must be broken."

"Broke my ass!" Suddenly recognizing the voice, Gumball sat up in complete annoyance and agitation and began to yell. "Oh my Glob really?! I mean come on you immature jerk!"

"Awwww did I make Gummy wet himself? Hehe," Laughed Marshall as he was floating around Gumball in circles. "You need to calm your man tits a bit!"

"I will as soon as you get away from me and out of my palace you creep!" Gumball gasped. "He-hey! Stop coming closer!" But Marshall never stopped coming closer to him. He had become curious because of Gumball's complexion. 'His skin…looks so smooth and shiny when wet,' though Marshall. He continued to hover closer and closer to Gumball, as if in a trance. Now only a few inches from his face, all Marshall could do was stare at what he saw as strangely beautiful. When the water him at a high velocity, it undid his up due and was now caressing down his face and was a bit longer than it looked. Also, it complemented his eyes making them seem large and more enticing to look at. Suddenly his trance was broken by a weak slap to the face. "What hell are you doing?! I said to get away from me!"

"…," Marshall was seemingly unfazed by the weak hit and smiled devilishly, and soon busted out in an outrageous laughter. "HAHAHHAHAHAH Really?! That was supposed to hurt? HAHA oh my glob that was sooo pitiful! You suck dude!" Marshall was laughing so hard that he started crying and forgot to keep floating so he fell right on top of Gumball. "OWWW!" yelled Gumball. "Get off of me this instant!"

"Well why don't you make me your majesty," smirked Marshall as he was staring down at him with his demon eyes. "If you don't be a man and try, you'll never be able to get the girl of your dreams." A flush of embarrassment and anger filled Gumball's face. He started to push Marshall off of him with all his might but to no avail, Marshall didn't even budge and inch. 'He is too strong,' thought Gumball. 'He's right.' After a few moments of struggling he stopped. Tears began to form from Gumball's eyes as he placed his hands over his face. 'Fionna would never like me… I could never do the adventurous things she does, I could never act real in front of others as she does, nor could I ever even start trying.' Marshall became baffled and confused as to what was happening. 'I think I may have gone too far somehow…' In an effort to try and sort things out, Marshall got up off of Gumball and tried to help him up. "Hey dude are you okay? Let me help you-"

"Just don't touch me and go away. Now." Gumball was now choking back his tears. "Look dude I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Just leave me be! I don't want your company any longer." Startled by this unusual outburst and feeling a bit guilty, Marshall went and flew out the window back to his home. Gumball, who was still on the floor, sorrowfully got to his feet, turned out the light to his lab, and went into his bed chamber in tears. Tears of one who feels that he could never really learn to love who he is on the inside; that the feeling of receiving affection from another would never come to him.

* * *

I'm sooo sorry that Gumball is not cooking at this moment in time, but I still wanted him to have a science side to him anyway because I love science! Don't worry, he will be back to cooking soon^^


	2. Reclusive Breakout

Reclusive Breakout

Two weeks had passed since that day, and back at the tree house Fionna began to worry a bit. While doing their morning stretches, cake too began express her concerns about Gumball. "You need to see him Fionna... And apologize now!"

"Apologize?! For what Cake? I didn't do anything that would have hurt him!" Fionna was very adamant with what she said while she was stretching her arms. Cake a bit astonished yet angered by that reply, now stood up and put her paws on her hips.

"Don't you give me that now girl! You know damn well what ya' did...what we did! He obviously found out that you were trying to get away from him the last time we were there! That must've made him feel unwanted and totally hurt his man pride! I swear sometimes you are either really inconsiderate or really dense!" Cake, now finished scolding Fionna like her mother would, waited to hear what she say to try and make amends. Fionna, now feeling upset, was on the brink of tears. "I...I didn't think that this would happen. I never thought he would just close himself off like that! I really am stupid sometimes! I'm so sor-"

"It's not your fault Fionna. I think I did sometime totally lame this time." Marshall suddenly appeared sitting right next to Cake who then screamed. "AHHHHHH The F?! Marshall ya' almost gave me a heart attack boy! Please stop with the creeper appearances!" After Cake was done with her little freak out, Marshall began to continue off of what he said before. "I think I may just a tiny bit did something lame that may have upset him..."

"What do ya mean dude," said Fionna. "Spit it out now man!"

"Okay okay! Chillax woman! Now, before I was rudely interrupted by Cake, I said that it could be my fault." Marshall paused briefly to clear his throat. "A couple of weeks ago, I was super bored, so I decided to pay Gum-waud a visit only to find you there with him. I waited until you left, because I wanted to jerk him around like I usually do-"

"Are you kidding me dude! Behind my back?!"

"Not cool Boy," Cake scolded. "Not cool at all."

"Hey shut up! I have to get my kicks somewhere once in awhile. I get bored at times. Anyway, once you were gone, and he was washing his hands, I played a trick on him and said a few things and left! I still don't even understand myself why he got so depressed...Well I'm gonna go chill at my cave now!." As Marshall began to hurriedly fly out the window, Cake acted quickly to wrap her now extended tail tight around Marshall and slammed him back down. "Oh noooo you don't boy! You are going to tell us what all you said and did to Gumball. NOW!" after a few moments of silence, Marshall decided to fill in the gaps. "I splashed water in his face, laughed at him, fell on him by accident, told him to try and make me get off of him, and told him that if he didn't start trying new things that he would never fulfill himself at all as a man...After that he stopped trying to get me off and almost started crying. I had no idea what was going on, not that I cared, but I did get off of him and tried to help him up. Instead of accepting my gracious offer, the snot just yelled at me to leave so I did."

"YOU WHAT?!" Both Cake and Fionna were astonished but what just came out of his mouth. Marshall, who looked somewhat indifferent, snapped them out of their daze. Cake, along with Fionna most of all, got really pissed off. "What the hell dude?! That's not okay at all! How could you?!

"Calm down it's not that big of a dea-"

"Not that big of a deal?" interrupted cake. "Not that big of a deal?! It's one thing to tease someone, but it's a whole 'nother thing when you hurt a man's pride. Boy, what you did was destroy his confidence in himself! That's just like kicking him in the balls! You WILL go and apologize to him and you WILL help him get out of this funk!"

"Gumball practically hates me for no reason, and I'm not too fond of him either...so why in the hell should I help his ass anyway?" Fionna suddenly grabbed Marshall and slammed him against wall clutching at his shirt tightly. "If you don't help Gumball out I will never speak to you again ya' hear me?! What you did was completely jacked up and you need to fix it...Now you jerk!"

"..." Marshall was speechless from what Fionna just said to him. '_Wow. I've never seen her this mad at me before. She could be serious this time.' _Fionna's glaring eyes seemed to pierce right through him, and it strangely hurt. "Well?" Cake and Fionna both snapped out. With a sigh of resignation, Marshall agreed to do what they wanted. "Fine then. But I won't like this at all." Fionna released her hold on him and allowed him to go out the window.

* * *

Inside the bedchamber was dark and gloomy, and the only living thing in there was the lump that laid under the covers of his bed. Gumball closed himself from practically everyone since his last encounter with Marshall. He would not even let peppermint maid come near him except for when she brought him food. Gumball had fallen into a deep depression that would be hard to bounce back from.

Marshall had soon made it to the candy kingdom with the utmost laxity and indifference. He flew all the way up the tower where Gumball sleeps, and flew in the window. '_Its so dark...not that it bothers me, it's just too dark for him.' _Seeing the the hump on the bedcreeped Marshall out, so he proceeded with caution.

At first Marshall barely poked the hump several times with little to no response at all. Soon getting agitated knowing that he is being ignored, Marshall Tore the covers off and was about to yell, but what came out instead was silent gasp of astonishment. '_Is this really Gumball? This really can't be happening...'_ There, laying on his side, was what only seemed like a shell of himself, was Gumball.

Gumball only seemed to be a shell of himself, his usual shine to skin was now dull and undertoned. The signature up due he always had was now messily draping his face and neck ever so delicately. The only things he wore was long silk night shirt and socks. This new shocking image of him almost too weird for Marshall to take in. '_My Glob what have I done...I HAVE to fix this or else Fionna will really kill me this time.' _

"Hey Gumwaud, you need to get your ass up now." Gumball said nothing. He only rolled over to his other side and closed his eyes. This annoyed Marshall a bit, but not enough for him to lose his cool...yet. He then began to shake Gumball at his shoulders hoping that it would wake him up from this death-like gaze. "Hey man, this isn't cool at all. I don't know what the hell got into you but this isn't going to help anything. Your subjects are worried about you and most of all Fionna is worried sick about you too."

"So what? Is that supposed to make me feel any better? Is that supposed to be the cure that puts me back to who I used to be? Or rather who I want to be?" Gumball's words strangely hit Marshall like a spear, affecting him in a negative way. He got pissed. "See," said Gumball. "There is no way for the emptiness I feel to be filled. Now just go awa-" His words stopped due to the piercing red eyes that were ripping into him. Marshall was not not amused what so ever. He grabbed Gumball by the shirt with one hand and flew straight up to the ceiling and just stood there with a dark look on his face. " Do you want to just end it now? I can always drop you onto the floor. At this height, it'd be virtually impossible for you to live. If you hate life that badly, then allow me to oblige you." The sudden shock of being in midair finally shook some emotion into Gumball's eyes. "AHHHHHHH PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

"Oh sooo now you don't want to end it here then?" Marshall's expression lightened a bit, but he was still agitated. "OF COURSE NOT YOU RUFFIAN NOW LET ME GO!" Marshall began to loosen his grip on gumball's shirt, causing him to slip. "AHH DON'T LET GO OF ME!" Gumball quickly latched himself onto Marshall with an iron grip. Marshall not too surprised of his reaction, decided to use this as an advantage. "Tell ya what Bubba, I'll help you out of this little funk of yours and get ya' break out of your shell. Fionna is making me do this because she says its my fault that you've gone all reclusive on everyone."

"Of course it's your fault Marshall!"

"Oh yea? and hows that?"

"Well-" Gumball stopped in his tracks and showed a face that looked hurt and did not want to continue. Marshall actually started to feel a bit guilty. "Why of all people should I let you help me? Not that I think you could anyway," Gumball said finally after a few moments. "Well for one, Fionna is gonna seriously kill me if I don't. And two, who is the one keeping you from falling to your death at the moment huh?" Marshall now wore a smirk on his face. Realizing that he didn't have much of a choice, Gumball gave a face of resignation. "Fine then, but get me down from here now. I don't like having to hang onto you like this...It's embarrassing." Gumball began to blush a bit, so Marshall let up and slowly floated down to the bedroom floor. "Now," said Marshall, "Lets see what you have in your closet...I am not gonna be seen with the Prince of the Candy Kingdom who wears ratchet clothes...or hair for that matter."

"Oh honestly!" yelled Gumball. "My style is neat, clean, and orderly unlike your messy, and relaxed randomness that you do."

"Riiigghht," Marshall sarcastically. "Let's just go and see then...I guarantee that you'll be better than in noooo time dude."

"Riiiigghht."


End file.
